Unveiled at the North American Fan Festival, Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward is the first new expansion pack coming Spring 2015.

Debuted with a CGI trailer, Naoki Yoshida took to the stage to deliver the opening keynote for the Festival in Las Vegas. Along with his trusty translator Michael Koji-Fox, they both revealed a host of new features coming to Heavensward, also known as version 3.0.

Heavensward will take place around The Holy See of Ishgard as players take their part in “The Dragonsong War”; the bloody thousand year conflict between Ishgard and Dravania”. This is only one of the major storylines to be followed in Heavensward, the second focusing on “The Wyrmking versus Thordan and his Knights Twelve”.

The Holy See of Ishgard is a closed off city ruled by an Archbishop and four Noble Houses, worshiping Halone the Fury. Power lies in bloodlines, outsiders are shunned and unpleasantly, the poor and rich are physically divided by the city itself, the poor taking their place at the bottom, the rich at the top. Ishgard is full of architecture, statues and culture that represent and show the history of a city engulfed in The Thousand Year War. The city is in a constant state of repair, and the environment will reflect this, with a brand new dark and more mature art-style for the area.

Yoshida announced many brand new features that will be coming in version 3.0;

• Level Cap Increase to 60 for all disciples
• Massive New Areas (Ishgard, Dravanian Forelands, Floating Landmasses and Continents)
• New Playable Race
• Multiple New Jobs
• All New Primals (Including an original made for Final Fantasy XIV
• Challenging New Dungeons
• New Raids
• Airship’s Galore (Personal FC Airships)
• New Gear and Recipes
• All content will expand through 3.0 onwards

The Final Fantasy XIV NA Fan Festival is continuing for another two days, with a likely plethora of new information to come, both new and about the above features. We will be sure to keep you updated with all the latest events and activities.